Strawberry stagnation: Has South Korea’s premium fruit export flights strategy plateaued?

Published 2022년 5월 30일

Tridge summary

South Korea's premium air-flown food export strategy, which involves using dedicated aircrafts for transporting fresh produce like strawberries to markets such as Singapore and Hong Kong, has seen a 15.2% decrease in exports for the 2021/2022 season. Despite this setback, the government plans to expand the initiative to other Asian markets, leveraging the popularity of K-food and the Hallyu wave. They will also focus on improving the safety and quality of strawberries and developing more premium fruit varieties for this market. However, the sustainability of this strategy as borders reopen and travel becomes more possible, and with lower average incomes in the target markets, remains uncertain.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

The authorities attributed the drop to production difficulties, but have pledged to forge on with this initiative and even expand its reach to more markets. South Korea developed its premium air-flown foods export strategy amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, successfully launching these in the middle of 2021 to warm response from markets such as Singapore and Hong Kong. The success of this initiative propelled the country’s premium fruit exports to record-setting export growth numbers last year, and this further incentivized the government to develop the strategy further and initiate even more dedicated aircrafts for premium strawberry exports. This was a very feasible strategy during the peak of COVID-19 lockdowns and border closures as strawberry farmers would have had no option to export their product otherwise – but given the gradual reopening of country borders and relaxation of travel restrictions, it remains to be seen whether this strategy is a practical long-term one. Case in ...

Source: Food Navigator Asia